Epithelial cell differentiation requires the formation of the apical junctional complex, a membrane-associated structure that includes adherens junctions (which mediate stable adhesion between epithelial cells) and tight junctions (which regulate the movement of water and solutes between epithelial cells). Now, on p. 3835, Kai Schmidt-Ott and colleagues report that the mammalian transcription factor grainyhead-like 2 (Grhl2), an epithelium-specific homologue of Drosophila Grainyhead, regulates the molecular composition of the apical junctional complex. Grhl2, they report, determines the expression levels of E-cadherin and claudin 4 (Cldn4) – key components of adherens junctions and tight junctions, respectively – in several types of epithelia. Other experiments reveal that Grhl2 regulates epithelial differentiation in vitro and in vivo, that Grhl2 deficiency in mice results in defective neural tube closure, and that Grhl2 associates with conserved cis-regulatory elements in the Cldn4 and E-cadherin genes. Together, these data suggest that Grhl2 is a transcriptional activator of apical junctional complex components and is, therefore, a crucial participant in epithelial differentiation.
Grainyhead heads up apical junction formation
Grainyhead heads up apical junction formation. Development 15 November 2010; 137 (22): e2206. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.